FIC: The Show Must Go On; or, Yeah Capes! (AI RPF, Adam/Kris, PG-13, 3/3)

[cjmarlowe]

"You always spend your whole wardrobe budget," says Kris, hands all over Adam's latest acquisitions, jeans more expensive than any two pairs Kris has ever bought himself and a jacket he's not even sure he would know how to get on.

"And you always don't," says Adam. "All that means is that we should go out together next time."

"I wouldn't wear something like this," says Kris, not because there's anything wrong with it but just because he wouldn't. Kris has a sense of what his style is and he's pretty stubborn about it.

"Nothing like this," Adam agrees with him, taking the jacket out of Kris's hands and putting it on over his plain blue t-shirt. It looks exactly right on him, even before he adjusts it in the mirror. "But if they're giving it to you, you might as well use it."

"I just don't need it," says Kris with a shrug, because what's he going to do, buy an extra shirt in case he spills? "I get what I need. I think I look good."

"You do look good," says Adam. "You could also look good in something a little more high end, as long as it's on someone else's dime. Give it a shot, it might be fun." Shopping isn't something Kris really classifies as fun, more an inoffensive and necessary task, but it's not like he's going to say no to doing just about anything with Adam when they're given such an obvious opportunity.

"Next week," he says, getting up and touching the collar of Adam's jacket while he actually has it on. "It needs something. Right?"

"Excellent accessorizing instincts," says Adam, opening a box he keeps on his dresser and rummaging through the contents. He pulls out a gold chain, and with a very deliberate touch he turns it from gold to silver right in front of Kris.

"Convenient," he says as he helps Adam put it on.

"I know, right?" says Adam. "You have no idea how often I've switched this one back and forth. I'm allowed to use my powers for frivolous purposes sometimes."

"If I can go flying recreationally, I'm pretty sure you're allowed to transmute your jewelry," says Kris. "Actually, now that I know you can, maybe I'll take advantage of you."

"You don't need permission to take advantage of me," says Adam, fixing himself in the mirror one more time before he turns to Kris, hooks him by the beltloop and gives him a very firm kiss. Kris has been a little uncertain about just initiating anything, but Adam makes it clear it's just as easy as that.

"You're the one who changed the fixtures in the bathroom."

"What?" says Adam.

"Sorry," says Kris, because it's possibly not the right time to have that kind of a eureka moment. "When we moved in, I was convinced they were these kind of corroded things, but the next time I looked they were sparkling and new."

"Someone could've just cleaned them," says Adam, but Kris knows better than that. He knows they were changed, and he should've trusted his instincts on that.

"What else have you done around here?"

"Not much," says Adam. "Just little things here and there."

"You could be so rich," says Kris, a little awed by the idea. "You could just turn things into gold."

"I could ruin the entire global economy," agrees Adam with a little arch of his eyebrow that suggests maybe Kris hasn't carried the line of thought that far, to a somewhat terrifying conclusion. Which he hasn't. It's kind of an awe-inspiring thought. "It's a good thing I have ethics, huh?"

"Have you ever, though?" Kris asks him.

"Only a couple of times, when I was strapped for cash," says Adam reluctantly. "Not raw gold bars or something, just jewelry. Increased the value of some cheap things I picked up. I can't actually make anything or change the shape, I can just change what it's made of. I'm not proud of it, but it was pretty harmless in the grand scheme of things, I think."

"I'd probably have done the same thing," Kris admits. It's hard to know, but under the same circumstances, he doesn't think anyone was hurt by it. It's not like Kris hasn't used his powers to his advantage in a non-professional capacity, in ways that were no different than a smart person being smart, or an athletic person being athletic. There are ways to use your abilities that are just a natural extension of life. "I know you're honorable."

"Thank you," says Adam, with such quiet gravity that Kris knows he understands that he means it.

"I think it was better when it was gold, though."

"What?"

"The chain," says Kris, running a finger along it. "I think it matched your jacket better when it was gold?"

"Stop thinking about my accessories," says Adam, kissing him again. "How can you think about my accessories when all I'm doing is thinking about taking them off right now?"

"I can't help myself," admits Kris. It's not that he doesn't want Adam to take the jacket off. And then his shirt, too, while he's at it. But his mind latches onto things sometimes, often ridiculous things, and he just can't help it.

"Yeah, I know," says Adam, throwing his shoulders back to pull the jacket back off again, laying it carefully on Kris's bed with the rest of his purchases. Kris's bed is still carefully made. Adam's bed is definitely not. "It's one of your most charming features."

"I like to think I have features a lot more charming than that," says Kris, but hearing it like that is nice anyway. They've spent enough time together now that Adam sometimes knows exactly what Kris needs to hear.

"You're right," says Adam. "I value your ability to help me get my t-shirts off even more."

Kris, as it happens, is very good at taking a hint.

:::

They don't do dinner or a party when Scott goes. Instead they all get together with Scott at the piano and they just hang out and make music. Kris is glad about that, even though it means less food. (Well, there's cake, but that’s just not adequate.) The truth is that he's sorry to see Scott go as much as he's sorry to see anyone go, but he's also excited about this growing thing he has with Adam, and by doing this kind of celebration to mark Scott's departure he gets to observe both things.

Scott launches into a Beethoven sonata in a quiet moment-one of the ones Kris recognizes but can't name-and Adam tries to find a way to sing along anyway with completely invented lyrics and tune (the tune better than the lyrics, but that's the one Adam has more of an instinctive gift for) and Matt tugs on Kris's sleeve.

"Red Red Wine."

"What? No," laughs Kris. "No. No way."

"Come on, remember?"

"Of course I remember," says Kris. Or at least, he remembers most of it. Karaoke in a little hovel in New York, splitting a bottle of wine between them all (probably more than one, actually) and celebrating a job well done.

It's sort of their song now.

"If we don't now, when will we?"

"I don't know, never?" offers Kris. "We can save it for the next appropriate moment."

"This is the next appropriate moment," says Matt, then he's gone to whisper in Scott's ear before Kris can lodge a more vehement protest.

Adam comes back over, rests a hand on Kris's back and Kris knows he actually wants to put an arm around him but for now this is enough for them. He feels like maybe a couple of people know and aren't saying anything, but he's not getting any disapproving looks so maybe not.

Matt looks back over to Kris and it's not a look of glee on his face, it's something else entirely, and Kris realizes in that moment that even if no one else knows, Matt's figured it out. Matt who knows, at least, that he's not cheating on anyone but Matt who maybe didn't realize before that Kris might even be interested in a guy. It's not like it ever came up. Kris doesn't say anything, but he knows his face is revealing everything.

Then Matt breaks out into the gleeful grin that Kris was expecting and comes back to drag him towards the piano.

"What's this?" says Adam, but all Kris can do is raise his arms helplessly, prisoner of Matt's whims, and a few moments later they're launching into the song.

Kris kind of thinks it sounds better when they're drunk on cheap wine, but it's the sentiment that counts and it's the right sentiment for tonight. Old and new memories, old and new friends, and sharing this one thing they all have in common.

Adam cracking up so helplessly and thoroughly that he ends up on his knees on the floor is just a bonus.

:::

Scott's send-off night makes Kris think, though. It makes him think about this even more than he already has been all along.

Right now it's still fairly hypothetical, the 'fame' that comes from being a contestant on American Idol usually somewhat fleeting if you don't win, but still, being a superhero and being famous are supposed to be mutually exclusive. There's a reason for secret identities, and it's not because they make you look cooler (although they do). It's dangerous to go out there and go toe to toe with some of the most vicious, most vindictive people out there. It's ridiculous to go out there and do all that and give them a way to follow you home. To give them a way to find out who your loved ones are.

When you're famous, people are watching you all the time. There's not a lot of room for a secret life.

Now Kris is trying to live a secret life on two different levels, and it's already wearing on him. Not that hiding his budding relationship with Adam is a long-term thing, but it's a thing for right now and even as the relationship is a comfort, it's also one more stress.

"I feel like we didn't think the Katy thing through hard enough," says Kris with a sigh. "We have an exit strategy, we just didn't think about the possibility of needing to change that timeline. It didn't occur to anyone I might meet someone here. It sure didn't occur to me."

"It really was an excellent short-term plan," says Adam. "If you guys need to keep-"

"No," says Kris, and shakes his head. "I mean, till the end of the competition obviously. But then we'll come up with a new plan because I won't. I can't. Not to you."

"I understand about secret identities," says Adam.

"There are some secrets that don't need keeping," says Kris. "Not any longer than they have to be. We can start things in the fall, maybe. After the tour."

"You must not have expected to be a real contender," says Adam. "You didn't see this coming."

"I didn't even know I was going to get past Hollywood Week," says Kris. "We've practically been married forever, in every other way. The lie came pretty naturally. I guess those are the kind you need to be more suspicious of. Now we have to compound it with even more lies to let it play out."

"Could've said she was your sister," says Adam. "I would've bought that."

"Too easy to see through that one," says Kris. "Marriage was really the only way to get us the regular access we needed. They don't give you permission to sleep with your sister. I hope."

"Point taken," says Adam. "You'll sort it out. Maybe we can feign a happy threesome."

Kris laughs and shakes his head. "We will be a happy threesome," he says, not in bed but in a lot of other ways. He can Katy don't just work together, they're intimate in ways that coworkers aren't, that most friends and sometimes even family aren't. "But no, no more lies."

He doesn't miss the fact that they're starting to think in long term already, and he doesn't think that Adam misses it either. He isn't getting ahead of himself, he isn't assuming anything, but he feels like it's safe to say that this isn't a fling. It never really could be.

:::

"So we're going to have to talk about this," says Katy as Kris gets comfortable in her hotel room, taking advantage of her marital access to not have to meet on the roof.

"About?"

"You know what about," says Katy, smiling at him as she sits down and puts her feet up, glass of ice water in one hand and a sandwich in the other. "Does he know, Kris?"

"Oh yeah," says Kris. There's just no point in wasting time denying that. "He definitely knows."

"Oh," says Katy, so at least she didn't know everything. She didn't know it had progressed past fantasy. "Is it serious?"

Kris shrugs. "Not yet," he says, "but I think it could be, if we let it."

"You never did like the easy road," says Katy, offering him half her sandwich which he takes without argument. He traveled here like a normal person, but their mutual appetites are pretty much always healthy. "We'll need to get a flysuit made for him, I guess."

"Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves-"

"It takes them, like, two months to make one to custom fit," says Katy. "By then, you'll probably be officially serious."

"Not until we divorce," says Kris, making air quotes around the word with his one free hand. "I don't know, Katy. It's new. It's kind of unexpected. I don't want to assume anything."

"You don't want to jinx it."

Kris just shrugs but okay, maybe that's a part of it. And maybe he's a little afraid that it's too much change all at once, that he won't be able to juggle it all. But the idea of not pursuing things with Adam now when they've both already let them begin...well, it just doesn't feel like an option.

"All right," says Katy. "All right, you can just wait and see."

"I just want to let it happen without expectations," says Kris. "I feel like I haven't had that in a long time. Is this weird for you?"

"Was it weird for you when I dated John?"

"He does have elastic limbs," says Kris. "That was kind of weird."

"Shut up," says Katy, and laughs and gives him a friendly shove. "I think you think that was way dirtier than it actually was."

"Hey, you don't have to tell me anything," says Kris, raising his hands innocently. "Totally none of my business."

"Well, it's no weirder than that," she says. "I know nothing's going to keep you from being my partner. And at least I like Adam. And at least he knows who you are. You could do much worse."

"I told him we'd work out the details of our split, or whatever, after the competition," says Kris. "However much longer that lasts for me."

"All the way, if I have any say in it," says Katy, giving him a little nod that's all Kris needs to know she's on board with his timeline. "Have you decided what you're doing this week yet?"

"No, and I need your help," says Kris. "I need to be remembered, Katy. I need to stop being competent and invisible."

"Don't try to be something you're not," says Katy. "You can win this thing without being someone else."

"Are you saying I'm just competent and invisible?"

"I'm saying you know what you're good at," says Katy. "So just go for it. Sing what you're feeling. You're extraordinary when you do."

"Songs of the Cinema," says Kris with a little sigh, because the list of cleared songs is less about genuine feeling and more about movie schmaltz. The power ballads alone are enough to make a guy drown in cheese. "I think I have my work cut out for me."

"Well, let's work it out," says Katy. "I'm good for more than just flying, you know."

"So very much more," says Kris, and curls up with her and starts to brainstorm.

:::

They have to race out after the show to attend the premiere of 17 Again, which is good because it means they aren't spending too much time dwelling on their performances, and also because they get to go to a movie premiere which is kind of awesome. Kris isn't much for the attention of the red carpet, but in a big group like this it's cool, he lets other people take the spotlight and they have a great time.

And one more good thing about the rushed, cross-promotional outing is that after the red carpet and the cameras and the interviews, they get to sit in a dark theatre and actually just watch a movie. They get to relax and not have to put on a show for anyone.

Kris is surprised when he feels Adam's hand brush against his, then grab hold it of and slip them both out of sight between the seats, lacing their fingers together.

"We can't," says Kris, and "We can," says Adam, and before Kris knows it they're holding hands in the dark as the movie begins. He's so sure someone's going to see but no one even looks at them.

It doesn't last long, just long enough for Kris to feel like this is a date and not a professional obligation. There are a few reasons why it would be bad for them to be caught right now but those few minutes are like a promise, from Adam to Kris and from Kris back to Adam. And maybe from the rest of the world to both of them, reminding them that moments like this still exist and will be waiting for them.

Kris is happy just to have him there for the rest of the movie, shoulders pressed together, elbows bumping, and laughing at all the same moments. They share moments in the mansion all the time, but this is something new.

Adam stands by Kris afterwards, when they're interviewed again, and they might not be touching but Kris has an intense awareness of him just being there. They've been doing this together all along, standing by each other at each show, each rehearsal, each video, each time they have to tackle something for the show or even outside of it. But this is the first time Kris feels like they're standing together.

Reality starts to hit all of them when they get back to the mansion, or the reality of results, anyway. After the excitement of the premiere they start to think about every choice the made on stage, revisit every comment from the judges. Nobody feels confident about the results at this point, no matter how good they felt like they did. Too much is out of their hands.

Kris knows this could be it for him, as much as he feels like he made a mark with his performance, as much as he feels like he really put himself out there.

"You were amazing," says Adam, murmuring the words in Kris's ear. He's already told Kris he was amazing where everyone else could hear but this time it's just for him, like he knows what's going on in side Kris's head. He probably does, if only because it's the same thing going on inside his own.

"So were you," says Kris, and if it wasn't his favorite performance of Adam's, he'll never get over just how dynamic Adam is on stage. He can't imagine everyone else didn't see it too.

But that's not the only thing about Adam that's amazing, and Kris has a feeling Adam wasn't just talking about his performance either.

Kris feels like no matter what happens at the results show now, things can only go up from here.

:::

The funny thing about the biggest moments in your life is that in retrospect you always feel like you should've seen them coming.

"Thirty seconds," Kris hears backstage, then they're lining up and getting ready for the start of the results show and everything from this moment on is going to be televised for the country, not to mention the world, so he puts his game face on.

He isn't a psychic but he feels something when he goes out there, some kind of energy in the air that's not just the electricity between him and Adam. He's not even sure if it's a good energy or a bad energy, just a little something extra today. Maybe the audience is just really excited for Jennifer Hudson or Miley Cyrus (or both) and Kris is feeling it. Maybe the warm-up guy didn't do such a great job today and they're in a restless and impatient mood. Maybe it's just a really nice day.

The vague feeling stays with him through the guest performances, through the video packages, through the judging recaps.

Even when Simon shockingly says he was brilliant, Kris feels charged up and uneasy. Or maybe Simon's review just contributes to it because Simon calling him brilliant just feels a little surreal on top of everything else. They're words he certainly never expected to hear; even in his most charitable moments towards Kris, Simon doesn't go that far.

"Quit it," says Adam, giving Kris a little poke during a commercial break. "You look like you're expecting to be kicked."

"Just nervous, I guess," Kris says, because all of them are nervous, for themselves and for each other. Maybe that's all it is, the collective uneasiness of nerves that don't grow less the further they get in the competition no matter how used to it all they get.

"Don't be," says Adam, and puts on his Simon imitation again. "Kris, you were brilliant."

Kris ducks his head and even smiles, but it's not himself he's worried about. He's already been declared safe. It's Matt who's sitting out on the stool waiting to hear his fate now. Kris doesn't want to lose Lil, and he knows Adam especially doesn't want to lose Lil, but Matt, well, Matt's special.

Then they're being counted back in and he puts his game face back on. This is it no time for smiles.

"Dim the lights and let's get to it," says Ryan, and Kris holds his breath. "After the nationwide vote of over thirty-six million, it's down to these two. And Lil, I'm afraid...you're going to have to endure the competition one more week, at least. You are safe."

Kris's heart breaks a little bit, and he doesn't pretend it doesn't, but all hope is not lost yet. He doesn't have time to really process the results, though, or start calling for Matt to be saved before his thoughts are interrupted.

"Before we get on with the results," says Simon, "I have a little presentation to make."

"All right," says Ryan, just rolling with it, as he does. "Hit us, Simon. But if you're going to declare your undying love for Paula, I have to tell you, we all already know."

Simon doesn't rise to the bait, not even to roll his eyes. "I think you'll find," he says, standing up and addressing the entire audience in that way he does, "that all the exits are sealed."

Kris doesn't get what's going on at first, wondering if this is another one of those little sketches the judges like to do with one another to eat up time on the show that would better be spend on the contestants. That right now should be spent on Matt. But the rest of the judges-and more importantly Ryan-look as confused as he does.

Then there's a frenzy backstage and Kris is pretty sure they just went back to commercial.

"In a few moments, the rigging over your heads will start to come lose. The lights will sway, then they'll start to flicker, then the whole assembly will come crashing down on the audience and the stage. Some of you might be lucky. Some of you might be killed by the impact. The rest of you get to look forward to a world of pain as the seats you're occupying all go up in flames."

He says it like he's telling them next week's theme, or the guest performer. The audience stirs uneasily, like they're unsure if this is still some kind of joke, and the first people start trying to exit up the aisles.

Lil is the first to step forward on stage, out of Adam's congratulatory hug. "Why are you doing this?" she says. "What's the matter with you?"

But Kris has a growing feeling of horror that he knows exactly what's going on here. And what's probably been going on, if not since the moment he entered the competition, then soon after. This isn't about Simon Cowell or American Idol or the audience at all.

It's all about him.

"It's The Shade," he says, lowly, mic off, and Adam isn't the only one who knows what he means by that.

"No," murmurs Adam in disbelief, but Kris knows. He knows.

As the audience gets more restless, as Simon just stands there looking calm and confident, as the rest of the judges talk to him with their mics off so that nobody else can hear, Matt comes back over to join them.

"I don't know what's going on, but I don't like it," he says, and no matter that he's just been eliminated from the competition, Matt is ready to act.

Kris can see the moment Simon recognizes he's figured it out. A slow smirk spreads across his face, then there's a dizzying rippling and suddenly it's not Simon standing there anymore at all. It never was.

That's when the panic really starts.

"I have to do this," says Kris, stepping forward and looking up at the rafters, at the lights and the riggings and the very real danger that lurks. The Shade doesn't bluff. "I have no choice."

He's always known, in the back of his mind, that it might come down to this. He wanted this to work, but he's always known he might have to make this choice, between his dreams and his responsibilities. He didn't count on that choice including revealing his secret identity, but that's obviously already been compromised to the one person who can hurt him the most, so the damage is already done. He hopes it won't cost him his life too, but if it comes down to it, that's part of the deal.

Sometimes sacrificing yourself is the only solution.

"It's just so unfortunate," the Shade goes on, from behind his black mask, "that there's no one here who can save you." He's looking right at Kris when he says it, and Kris knows it for the challenge that it is. Nobody else can get here and get inside fast enough to save them. It's all on him.

He looks over at where Katy is sitting, only Katy is standing now, solid amid the chaos, and she nods at him and Kris knows that she understands. He mouths 'I'm sorry' to her anyway, because this one moment, this one decision, changes everything for both of them.

"There is," says Kris, stepping forward. But before he can launch off the stage towards the precarious lighting, he feels a hand on his arm.

"Take me up with you," says Adam. "Maybe I can help."

"You're not compromised," says Kris. "You don't have to do this."

"You can't do this alone," says Adam, and Kris even if Kris weren't already familiar with that tone of voice, he knows in that moment it's not an argument he's going to win. "I'll never forgive myself if I could do something and I just stood by. Take me up with you."

A moment later, to the collective gasp of a crowd already cowed and awed by The Shade, he wraps his arms around Adam and pushes off from the stage and flies up to the ceiling of the theater.

"He's not bluffing," says Kris when he sees what's up there. He has no real understanding of the mechanics of how the lights are suspended or how they all work, but even he can see weakened links and severed connections. "Can you strengthen these? Make them iron or something?"

"Yes," says Adam, "but it won't help. I can't make something out of nothing and there are too many gaps to fill. The moment I fix these connections here, the one remaining cable is going to fail due to the additional weight, and there's nothing I can do to fix that."

If Kris didn't know better, he would've thought The Shade planned for the presence of someone with Adam's abilities, which sends a shiver up Kris's spine even more than in the moment he realized The Shade had unmasked him. It could easily be coincidence, but when all of this is over, the idea that it might not be is going to haunt him.

"Then we need to evacuate," says Kris. From his vantage point above the whole theater, he can see the bottleneck at the doors, see that The Shade's declaration that the doors were sealed was no bluff either. Evacuation might not be an option. "Where in here isn't in immediate danger from the lights?"

"That we can get to?" says Adam. "Backstage. Unless he's rigged that with something else."

"It might be our only option till backup arrives," says Kris, and launches them back down to the stage again.

"Where's Matt?" he says when they land, doing a mental tally of contestants to make sure no one is missing. They're huddled towards the back of the stage, but other than Matt all present and accounted for, and Kris has an idea where he might be.

"I don't know," says Anoop, going for dry but coming out anxious and shaky. He doesn't seem afraid of Kris, but he's wary, and Kris can't blame him for that. "He couldn't have pulled this before Miley sang?"

A moment later Matt just appears next to him. Kris knows he's just moving too fast to see, but to anyone else it looks like he just appeared out of nowhere.

"I checked all the doors," he says, as Anoop eyes him suspiciously too. "They're blocked from the outside, and no amount of pounding's going to get through them. People are going to start getting crushed soon."

"Matt, you didn't have to-"

"Moron," says Matt affectionately. "You think I was going to stand here and watch? Would you have?"

Kris wouldn’t, and didn't, but that doesn't mean he wants to see his friends dangerously exposed either. It's bad enough that he and Katy were.

"You all have a lot of explaining to do," says Lil, "but I think it can wait. What do you need us to do?"

"Those lights are going to come down and there's not much we can do about it," says Kris. He hates taking an offer of help from a civilian, but he doesn't have a lot of options here. "We need to get the audience out of the auditorium and backstage."

Lil eyes the crowd. "That's not going to be easy," she says, but she steps up to get the job done. And so do the rest of them, even Danny. He might be looking at Kris in a new and not exactly pleasant way, but he steps up.

"Allison, get backstage," says Kris, "you don't need to do this."

"Like hell," says Allison. "My family's out there too." Kris wants to protest that she's underage, that he just wants her to be safe, but it's not a fight he can fight right now.

"Please?" he says, but she lifts her chin and tosses her hair back and then next moment she's marching forward to get people's attention, to get them coming forward over the stage instead of back towards the doors that aren't going to get anyone anywhere any time soon.

"I hope you didn't think it was going to be that easy," says The Shade, still standing confidently behind the judges table like he belongs there. Like he's still judging them. "You didn't think I was alone, did you?"

The Shade does work alone, though. He doesn't trust anyone else, and Kris has never wanted to risk anyone else in these very personal battles. But it becomes clear a moment later that he's not talking about people.

Nobody's getting out over the stage, or even getting anywhere near the stage, because the ever-present pack of girls in the pit, the ones who are the first to respond to every instruction, to scream and dance and cheer and sway, turn out to be robot minions of The Shade. One order from him and they're forming a solid line at every access point, one that no one can pass.

"I'm open to suggestions," says Kris, squinting up at the ceiling. He doesn't know how much time they have, but he's guessing it's not a lot.

"If we can't keep it up, can we keep it from landing?" says Katy, right by his side. Kris hadn't seen her launch herself over the minions, but he's been waiting for her. "I knew the seats felt strange today. He's doused them in something. He's not exaggerating when he says they're going to ignite as soon as any kind of spark hits them."

"Why isn't he just shooting us?" says Allison. "What's he waiting for?"

"That's not his style," says Kris. "This is about the psychological horror and the dramatic damage."

"This is about you," says Adam, and Kris can just nod. He knows it's not his fault, but it sure feels like it is. "The rest of you, get backstage, get somewhere safe. There's nothing else you can do."

"I don't think backstage is safe," says Allison, moving in closer to them again, and that's when Kris sees that all access points to the backstage area are blocked by The Shade's robot minions too. "What do we do?"

"Just...stay here," says Kris, as if there's anywhere else they can go. "Stay right here, no matter what happens."

"Unless we get chased by crazy robots," says Anoop.

"Right," says Matt. "Katy's right, can we rig something to keep them up?"

Kris looks around for someone to answer him, but Adam's already shaking his head. "We don't have the time or the equipment for that. You'd need some heavy duty cabling and something to attach it to."

"The closest I can see is a lot of electrical wire," says Katy, "and that's not going to hold anything. Do you think the lights will hold till backup shows up?"

"No," says Kris, because that's just not The Shade's style either.

It's hard to concentrate with the audible panic of the audience in his ears, but he has to, they all have to. Seacrest is already on the mic telling everyone to stay calm-bless him, seriously, Kris didn't even know he had it in him-and that's all anyone can do. Their job is to make sure that fear is the worst thing they experience today.

"Wait," says Kris. "Wait, maybe that's it."

"We're going to electrocute The Shade?"

"Tempting," says Kris, but that's not what he's thinking. "Adam, if we string everything up with wire, binding it to everything we can, can you make it something strong enough to actually hold them up."

"Yes," says Adam, catching up with Kris's plan before he finishes explaining it. "I can, but we don't have time to get them all."

Kris just looks at Matt. "Yes," he says. "We do."

The worst part, even in the midst of the robot minions and the now-swaying lights and the panicking audience, some of them frozen in their seats and some of them flooding the aisles, some of them pounding at the doors and some of them staring hopefully at the stage, is that The Shade is just standing there, so sure of himself, so pleased with the way it's all unfolding.

"Matt, grab everything you can," says Kris immediately, the plan taking shape in his head. "Katy, you take Matt up."

"On it," she says, and Matt vanishes in his haste to round up every wire, every cable, every bit of useful metal they have at hand.

Kris starts to think they're actually going to be able to do this, that they're going to take care of the threat and everything's going to be all right, when he looks at that solid row of teenage robot minions and he knows suddenly, instinctively, that The Shade has a backup plan.

"The seats," he says, looking at Katy. "You said they were probably doused in something flammable?"

"That's my best guess," she says. "If those lights come down, they're going to go up."

"But not just the lights," says Kris. "They're going to go up with any other source of flame too."

Katy nods slowly, and they look at one another in wide-eyed alarm. The minions. They're not just there to hold everyone captive. They're there to incinerate them. They're just standing there right now for the same reason no one's fired a single shot yet, no one's done anything overtly aggressive-they're waiting for their moment.

Matt shows back up again, laden down with cabling, and Katy winces and flexes her muscles and grabs hold of him.

"Go," says Kris. "We'll take care of this."

Somehow.

Katy and Matt are no more than a blur in the air, and every time Kris hears a creak, a groan, a shudder, he flinches and hopes that isn't it, that isn't the signal that their time's run out.

"Adam, we need to-"

"I know," he says grimly, and gives Kris's elbow a squeeze before they both start to move forward. Kris isn't sure how they're going to do this, but he knows they need to try. They have friends out there, family out there, and even if they didn't there are hundreds of innocent people who never asked to be part of something like this.

"I'll take you up as soon as we're finished here," he says, even knowing there are too many of them to take on, that his fighting skills might be little match for their inorganic bodies in the end. Then Adam touches one and it melts into the floor, Kris knows maybe he isn't the best man for this fight.

"How did you-?"

"Mercury," says Adam, as the rest turn to look at him. "I wouldn't suggest touching it. It was the fastest thing I could think of. I'll change it into something else afterwards." And from the way he melts the next one, and the next one, Kris believes there is going to be an afterwards.

Adam's got this, but there are still the minions at the backstage entrances to take care of. They might be further from the audience, but they're just as dangerous. They turn towards him as he approaches, and Kris doesn't even wait to formulate a plan. He just strikes.

It seems like a stroke of luck that the moment he impacts the first one they all go down like dominos, until Kris realizes the floor is slick with a thin sheen of ice.

He doesn't know anyone present who can do that, and he allows himself a moment to glance at the audience, then at the stage, at Anoop and Lil, at Allison, at Ryan and then at Danny who's fading back into the shadows. For that moment he wonders if his conversation with Danny meant more than he thought it did, if Danny was fighting a battle with himself all along or maybe looking to be convinced he was wrong.

But he doesn't get to think about it for more than a moment, because the minions are down but the mastermind is still at large.

Katy and Matt land on the stage a moment later, Katy dropping to her knees in exhaustion as soon as they do. As much as Kris wants to go to her, he knows she's going to be okay, that his support can wait.

"Your turn," says Matt, then nods at the minions on the other side. "I got this."

"We got this," says Allison, but Katy grabs her calf and tries not to let her go into the fight, and Kris is grateful that she tries, even if she might not make it.

"Please, Alli," says Kris as he grabs hold of Adam again to take him up. "Just be safe. For me."

That seems to convince her to take a step back, but only that much. It'll have to do.

"Go!" says Adam, coming back from the brink of the stage as there's a tremendous sound of grating metal overhead and wrapping himself around Kris. "We don't have much time, and we can't even risk sparks!"

Kris goes, launching them so fast he almost loses his grip. He heads for the sound, lets Adam strengthen that spot first, then the rest, one after the other as quickly as they can do them. He doesn't have anything close to Matt's speed, but he can still move in the air much faster than he can on solid ground. Before a single piece of rigging drops down on the stage, the audience, or anywhere else, they have it all secured the best way they know how. There are sections dangling precariously and they're no longer working, but nothing that poses a threat to anyone anymore. It's not pretty, but it'll hold.

Kris lands them back on stage, Adam hitting it at a dead run to help Matt out with the remaining threat, then leaps straight over to the judges' table, to take on The Shade directly.

But he's already gone.

"Where'd he go?" he says, to a baffled and incomplete panel of judges. "Where'd he go?"

"I don't know!" says Paula. "I saw him move off into the crowd and then he was gone!"

She gestures towards the packed aisle next to the judges table, but as much as Kris looks he can't spot him. Not that he expected to. The moment The Shade moved into the crowd, he would've used his powers to look just like everyone else. He's still in the room somewhere, and they have no way of finding him.

Kris tries anyway, but he doesn't get far before people are trying to touch him, trying to thank him, and he can't tell anyone from anyone else. He does find his family, though, still in their seats and looking at him like they've never been prouder.

Kris doesn't feel like he deserves that.

For all that everyone is safe now, for all that-to everyone in the room-they're heroes, Kris feels like he lost this one. He feels like he lost this one badly. Because hurting everyone in the audience was the bonus, for The Shade. Hurting Kris was the goal, and he's definitely done that.

"We need to find the real Simon Cowell," he says as he pushes his way back towards the stage.

"He's fine," says Kara, holding up her phone even as she still looks and sounds shell-shocked. "He was released five minutes ago. He says he was being held at the hotel."

Kris nods, and even though he's suspicious of everything right now, Simon's release would fit The Shade's M.O. He got what he wanted here, and now he fades off out of sight again until his next diabolical plan. Simon wasn't the target, just a means to an end.

All Kris can do is head back to the stage again, to the people he's left waiting.

"Lil, can you make sure that everyone's all right?" he says, and she nods her head and goes to collect them all back to the benches. Kris figures she understands Kris is asking her to make sure they're all out of earshot, including her, but she doesn't protest. He knows she gets it.

"So I think we might've just been kicked out of the league," he goes on a moment later, as if that's the biggest of their worries right now. "Anyone feel like going rogue with me? I come with a built-in nemesis and everything."

"Who knows your secret identity," says Matt.

"Apparently he's already known it for a while," says Kris. "It's more of a problem that he knows yours now, too. And so do a lot of other people."

"There are worse things," says Matt, but he looks grim all the same. "This really hasn't been my night."

Kris doesn't even know what to do right now, about any of the aftermath. He feels Katy's hand on his back, then Adam's, and he reaches out to pull Matt in closer too. All he can do is look helplessly back at the judges table, because no matter what they just did here, some things are out of their hands.

"Under the circumstances," says Kara, "I think it's only fair that we keep everyone around for next week."

"People are going to slaughter us if we try to eliminate you, dawg," says Randy. "I think we can skip the singing part."

"That's good," says Matt, "because I'm not sure I'm in any condition to sing right now."

"Wait, are we finishing the show?" says Adam. "Seriously?"

"I think we have to," says Kara, looking towards one of the stage managers, who in turn reaches someone else on her headset.

"However we do it, we need to come back from the longest commercial break ever," she says a moment later. "There's only so long we can claim technical difficulties before people change the channel."

Kris has no idea how they're going to do it, though. The theater is still in chaos, half the people out of their seats, people still pushing at the doors (and with backup still on the way, they'll probably be free to get out them soon). And on top of that the lights are completely useless, hanging by a thread, and there's a giant puddle of solid metal in front of the stage. They can't come back like this. They need to get the situation under control.

"Aren't there retrospective clips that you can use for situations like these?" says Kris. "To kill some time before something else comes on?"

"Situations like this? You really think we've had a situation like this before?"

But she walks away talking about promos and Kris thinks he's bought them a few more minutes anyway. Not that a few minutes are likely going to be enough, but it's better than nothing.

"I think I may be able to help," says Megan, joining them unexpectedly from the audience. Despite how close they got while she was still in the competition, she holds out her hand like she's introducing herself to them all over again. "I'm not actually a member of the league, mostly because I don't let them remember me every time I have to do something. I can-"

Adam and Kris just stare at her. Matt is the one who starts to laugh.

"Erase memory," Kris finishes for her, putting it together just a moment after Matt does. "Of course you can." Because that just figures, and wow is he glad she's on their side. "Yes. Yes. Because I, for one, am not quite ready for life as I know it to change. How fast can you work?"

"Just give me a microphone and about fifteen seconds," she says. "As long as we didn't broadcast any of that, we should be good. If it went out to the nation, there's not much I can do."

"We've run about ten minutes of commercials so far, apparently," says Kris. "Either Ford's going to have great sales after this or no one's ever going to want to so much as hear of one again."

"And if we want to pull this off, I need to get back to my seat," says Katy, giving Kris a kiss on the cheek, then Matt and Adam too. "Thank you."

"Someone get this girl a microphone?" says Kris, as Matt goes to tell the rest of the contestants they're actually going on.

"All right," says Megan. "Cover your ears till I'm done." Then she looks at the judges and motions for them to cover their ears too. Kris would've said they should have their memory of the events wiped too, but they've already decided to save Matt and he'd feel like a jerk if they undid that.

Adam is right at Kris's side and Kris's adrenaline is still pumping, and he impulsively just grabs Adam's hand and tugs him closer.

"Kris, what-?"

"As long as nobody's going to remember this," says Kris, and surges forward and kisses him like nobody's watching. He hears someone clear their throat nearby and doesn't even care, because he needs this right now. He's not sure there's anything else he needs more.

Then he hears the sound of Megan's voice brightly addressing the audience and he lets go so they can cover their ears.

She looks like she's telling them a story, but Kris can't hear a word of it and his lip-reading skills are only good enough to make out a few words like 'fixed' and 'great' and 'deployed exactly as they should have' and 'let's give the crew a hand' before she starts a round of applause.

Only then does she motion for them to uncover their ears, and Kris sees that the audience is mostly back in their seats again, the judges looking intently at the stage. Megan scans the audience one more time, then gives them a jaunty wave and heads back to where Kris and the others are waiting.

"I'll wipe the judges after the show," Megan murmurs to Kris before she takes her seat again, then they're finally coming back from commercial and the show goes on like nothing ever happened, collapsed robots, half-fallen lighting and all. The technical malfunction to end all technical malfunctions, but their secrets are all safe again and the show goes on.

:::

"So you're a superhero, huh?" says Allison later that night in the kitchen after Kris sneaks an apple (okay, two) out of the fridge. Saving the world-or even a television show-works up an appetite.

"You're not supposed to know that," he says, freezing in place, but Allison just gives him a smug smile and a shrug.

"I saw you covering your ears so I did too," she says. "I'm glad. I don't want my memory messed up."

"Allison...."

"I'm not going to tell anyone," she says. "Don't bust me, all right? I can keep a secret when it's important."

"We could get in a lot of trouble," says Kris. "You're not supposed to know who we really are."

"Then I guess you can't tell anybody about me, huh?" says Allison. "I keep your secret, and you keep mine. Are you going to finish that?"

"Yes," says Kris, and Allison pouts and gets herself something out of the fridge. "It's not just me who can get in trouble, Allison. The Shade is still out there somewhere. If he thinks you can remember what happened when no one else can...."

He might've had his memory of the events erased like the rest of the audience, but Kris isn't going to count on that.

"You don't have to scare me," she says. "I already promised not to tell."

"I just want you to understand," says Kris. "What's at stake. He might try something again. He will try something again, I just don't know what or when or where."

"And maybe now I'll be a little more ready for it," says Allison. "You don't need to worry about me."

"I will always worry about you," says Kris, and ruffles her hair even when she tries to bat his hand away. "Be careful, Allison."

"I've always known it's a scary world out there," says Allison, "but right now I'm going to spend more time worrying about the competition, okay? Because that shapeshifting dude might not be back for a long time, but we have to sing again in a week."

"Fair enough," says Kris. And actually, if it's all the same to everyone, that's what he's going to worry about too.

:::

Kris has to wonder, now that everything has settled down again (for a certain perspective on settled down, anyway), if there's some sort of psychological drive in superheroes to make themselves known in other ways. If, because they have to spend so much of their lives hiding their identities, this pathological need to be visible makes them do crazy things. Like enter nationally televised competitions.

Which makes him wonder if anyone on Dancing with the Stars secretly spits acid backstage, if anyone on Big Brother reads emotions when nobody's looking (or when everybody's looking, as the case may be). He wonders if anyone on Survivor has gone crazy on account of being prevented from using their firestarting powers.

Maybe he needs to look up David Cook and ask him if he can walk through walls or talk to animals or shoot laser beams from his eyes.

That last one makes him crack up, loud enough to get Adam's attention from the bathroom.

"Do I even want to know what's funny right now?" he says. "I think I could sleep for a week."

"Not before I get a midnight snack," says Kris. "I'm going to wake up hungry as it is."

"You already ate three helpings at dinner!" says Adam. "Where do you even put it all?"

"The care and feeding of Kris Allen," he says, as his stomach makes a little (okay, loud) plaintive rumble. "One of many things you're going to need to get used to."

"Yeah, I guess I could get used to that," says Adam, scrubbing his hands through his damp and unstyled hair. "Just let me put some pants on."

"You're coming with me?" says Kris. "You don't have to. I won't be that long."

"The care and feeding of Adam Lambert," he says as he finds a pair of sweats and hops into them, stretching and cracking his back after he does. "I might not be starving for food, but your company? I'd like to get as much of that as I can."

There are a lot of conspiracy theories about Idol, most of them talking about why one contestant is chosen over another, why some people stay and some people go, but none of them ever come close to what really happened there.

Kris figures if they could pull that off, maybe he can balance two lives after all. He certainly knows he wants to try.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3